The first and only time St. Kitts & Nevis competed in the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was in 2007, during a stretch of editions in which a champion was not crowned.

Ten years later, the Sugar Boyz earned a second-ever trip to the event and, this time, silverware (and four places in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup) will be at stake.

The road to Costa Rica was not an easy one. St. Kitts & Nevis posted an overall record of 3W-1D-2L in Caribbean qualifying and secured its place by virtue of being the team owning the best third-place record from the two, final-round groups.

A 2-1 loss to the Dominican Republic in the first-round opener could have sent the St. Kitts & Nevis into a tailspin. Instead, in the next game, the side regrouped to beat favored Jamaica, 2-1, on a pair of goals by Tahir Hanley (60’, 83’). In the last Group 4 match, an early exit still looked possible as SKN was level at 2-2 with Dominica with less than 20 minutes remaining in normal time. The clutch Hanley (72’) then struck in a third straight match and Javier Sutton (77’) added an insurance goal for a 4-2 triumph.

In the final round, SKN posted a 1-1-1 mark in Group A. Its 3-1 win over host Curacao in the last group match proved to be the difference in seeing it edge Cuba — the third-place side in Group B – by a single point for a berth in the CONCACAF event.

Keep an eye on Hanley, who ended up with a team-best six goals in Caribbean qualifying. The 19-year-old made his senior squad debut in a 0-0 draw at Nicaragua on August 31, 2016.

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